In Vienna Virginia, for over twenty-five years Wolf Trap has helped close the gap that has historically left children of primarily disadvantaged areas behind other children.

Miriam Flahnerty Willis Senior Director of Education, Wolf Trap Foundation said Wolf Trap Institute for early learning through the arts brings professional performing artists who are teaching artists into classrooms to work directly with teachers and our youngest children, children three four and five years old in preschool settings across the country

Each year Wolf Trap teaching artists work with early childhood educators to develop classroom learning experiences that provide their students with critical developmental skills and competencies they need for success in school and in life

Carol Bellamy an education manager for head start says children are different learners, children learn in different ways. Some children are kinesthetic learners, they like to move. Some children are auditory learners so those skills need to be fine tuned.

At a glance what looks like a simple arts activity is in reality a learning experience supporting multiple areas of development for the children

Krissie Marty a teaching artist said we did serialization, we did steady beat counting. The children… their pre-literacy skills included sequencing, recalling, comprehension, sub-phonetic awareness using their vocabulary

Learning through the arts, its a model for early childhood education that has made the Wolf Trap Institute for early learning for the arts, a leader for communities across the nation. More important the research shows it works for children

Douglas Klayman PHD President, Social Dynamics said the result of the research was very positive. We looked at six domains including inititive, social relations, creativity, movement in music, language and literacy and math and science. We found that the children who were part of the Wolf Trap Institute Program did better than the children in the comparison group

Changing teaching! Changing learning and changing lives! I know that no matter what happens within these children, because Wolf Trap is there in their classroom, that they’re forever changed for the better

Daryl Green National Spokes Person, Wolf Trap Foundation says investing in our young children is the best strategy for improving their odds for a brighter future. Your support will make the difference by providing our young children with the skills they need for a lifetime of learning